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Fair food is a delicious draw
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Bill Hustad of Monroe prepares sweet corn at the VFW booth Thursday at the Green County Fair. Hustad said he has been a volunteer at the booth for about eight years. (Times photo: Marissa Weiher)
MONROE - As the Green County Fair continues, local food vendors have high hopes for successful sales.

While there is no shortage of typical fair fare this week, fairgoers can support local organizations while enjoying some of the most popular foods the fair has to offer.

Bonnie Gerner, vice president of the Green County Ag Chest, oversaw the Ag Chest's food trailer, which sells cream puffs, ice cream, cheese curds, grilled cheese and more.

"We also give out free milk to promote the dairy industry as well," Gerner said.

Gerner, who has worked the Ag Chest trailer since 1995, said she hoped to sell 1,000 cream puffs by the end of the fair.

"Our ice cream is actually our most popular item," Gerner said, but she admitted that she wasn't sure how much ice cream she would typically sell at the fair.

Gerner said that she expects to meet her cream puff goals this year thanks to the trailer's advantageous location outside the barns. "The kids there love the milk," she said.

Sales at the Ag Chest trailer will benefit 4-H and the Future Farmers of America, Gerner said.

Meanwhile, the Monroe Veterans of Foreign Wars hope to sell at least 200 ears of sweet corn each day at the fair.

Veteran Bill Hustad said the VFW had successfully sold 200 ears on Wednesday, and expected, based on his seven years of work with the VFW, that sales will be stronger as the week progresses.

"They're very popular, and we have good corn this year," Hustad said. "We've had people come back for more."

However, the most popular food at the fair is the Monroe Optimist Club's famous cheese curds.

Optimist Bob Reffue said he expected to fill no less than 7,000 orders throughout the fair, adding that he estimated they had already sold roughly 1,000 by early morning Thursday.

"It's the place to be," Reffue said.

Reffue said about 160 volunteers, not all of them members of the Optimists Club, work at the cheese curd stand throughout the week in four-hour shifts.

Based on Reffue's estimates, the Optimists stand to raise nearly $35,000 for local organizations.

"They're the best things here," Reffue boasted.